Griffin Merritt finding new role, childlike excitement in first season at Tennessee

When he arrived at Tennessee, he realized quickly the Vols are so much more than the cocky villains of college baseball that he observed from the outside last year.

night. He gave them a lot to cheer for on Saturday when he hit his first home run as a Vol in the bottom of the seventh to give the Vols a commanding 7-2 lead.

Griffin Merritt had an ideal situation heading into his graduate season at Cincinnati.

The outfielder was coming off a year where he picked up 63 hits, 53 RBIs and 19 home runs. He was preparing for one final push at getting his draft stock up while playing for a team poised to have a solid season.

But he didn’t want to have a mediocre, comfortable season. He wanted a challenge. He wanted to win. That desire brought him to Tennessee this offseason.

Merritt knew Tennessee was the right place for him as he watched the 2022 team torch opponents night in and night out while playing with passion and a clear love for the game. While most outsiders frowned upon the Vols’ bad-boy attitude led by guys like Drew Gilbert and Jordan Beck, Merritt saw it as something he wanted to get in on.

“I knew the reputation Tennessee had coming in, and honestly, I kind of liked it,” Merritt said. “It’s part of the reason I’m here. I’m kind of a fiery competitor myself, and I want to win as badly as anyone else. So I kind of wanted to be surrounded by people with the same mindset.”

Inside the locker room, Tennessee has players that want to get better and want others to get better. There are no draft projections, player ratings or personal awards among the team. It’s just a group of guys trying to win.

“We have a lot of players that are going to be big leaguers for a long time, but there’s no egos,” Merritt said. “People drop their egos. We’re here to play to win. We’re here where there’s no finger-pointing. It’s everyone on the same track with the same goal.”

Having played a few weekends at Lindsey Nelson Stadium now, Merritt has also realized that the passion embodied by the players has also translated to the fanbase, which piled over 3,000 people into the stadium on Saturday.

“Looking up in the stands from right field today and seeing the crowd and how engaged they are and how people are valuing this team — they should,” Merritt said. “People here work hard and go about things the right way. The coaching staff is special and it’s a good place to play baseball, I’ll tell you that.”

Now Merritt is looking to continue to give those fans something to cheer for every

He is also looking to help a team that was historically good a season ago not take a major drop off in success. The Vols lost a lot of veterans at the end of last season and are now a young, inexperienced team rather than the seasoned one they were a year ago.

Merritt is hoping to combat the drop off in vets with his own college baseball experience. Though he has only played at Tennessee for a fall season and some change, his years at Cincinnati brought him wisdom that he wants to share with the younger guys on his team.

That leadership role isn’t necessarily his first role for Tennessee, but it is one he has learned to love in his short time with the Vols.

“I think it’s given me a second role on the team,” Merritt said. “Everybody probably looks at me and says ‘OK that kid needs to play good outfield and drive in runs in the middle of the lineup.’ But what they don’t see is, in that locker room I have a lot of experience that I’ve learned the hard way and the good way that’s kind of piled up that I can dump off on these guys.”